Are you interested in a PhD program that will provide you an opportunity to work in the frequent fire forests of the American Southwest and influence ecological restoration practices? These forests are in dire need of restoration, mainly due to a century of fire exclusion and subsequent, undesirable changes in forest structure and function. For example, the largest collaborative forest restoration project in the US, the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI), has a goal of implementing restoration treatments on approximately 1M ha of U.S. Forest Service lands in northern Arizona. Fundamental to these efforts are precise data on the amount and distribution of available resources, knowledge of how resources may change over time, and hazard assessments (e.g., wildfire potential); all of which require costly and resource intensive, spatially explicit data. As a result, managers are using more remote sensing data products (e.g., LiDAR), coupled with advanced forest inventory and data analysis techniques, to quantify existing conditions and support broad-scale analysis of forest ecosystems.

Assess and statistically validate algorithms for identifying individual trees and species from remote sensing data of Southwestern forests using new and/or existing stemmapped, area and tree based sample data.

Using these algorithms and data, design and implement a platform that integrates multiple data sources (data fusion) that are typically too large to analyze using traditional methods (big data) to provide detailed forest resource information at the tree-,stand-, and landscape levels.

Assess the accuracy, precision, and statistical properties of forest resource estimates such as bias, consistency, error, spatial uncertainty, and use these to provide improved information for land management decision making.

NAU’s formal application deadline is for Fall 2018 is Feb 15 2018 and preferred start date is Summer 2018. However, interested candidates are encouraged to contact with Dr. Sanchez Meador as soon as possible using the information provided below or submit your CV, written statement of interest, and copies of unofficial degree transcripts to initiate a dialog via e-mail. Andrew.SanchezMeador@nau.edu.